Cui Feng

This is my penultimate tea from Cha Yi. The owner told me it’s from winter 2019, although harvest dates aren’t shown on the website. I’ve had somewhat lacklustre experiences with Cui Feng oolongs before, but this tea was relatively recent and available, so I bought it. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma of these unevenly sized, loosely rolled nuggets is of roses, other flowers, honey, and cookies. The first steep has notes of roses, peonies, orchids, honey, grass, and cookies, and as expected, it’s somewhat sweet. The honey and florals continue to get stronger in the next three steeps, and there are hints of grape and maybe honeydew melon. The sweetness and florality continue until almost the end of the session, joined by increasingly prominent notes of grass, spinach, and other veggies.

This is an elegant, undemanding oolong with lovely rose notes that persist throughout most of the session. If it didn’t entirely grab my attention, neither did it present any off flavours. Of the three high mountain oolongs I tried from Cha Yi, the Ali Shan was my favourite, which surprised me given my ambivalence about oolongs from this region. I’d highly recommend this company, particularly for Canadians who can’t order directly from Taiwan for the time being.